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November 20, 2009

Festive floats

Santa’s not the only one getting ready for the parades

Watch as the Big Bad Wolf chases Little Red Riding Hood.

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King’s College senior Gary Lambert sets up a Christmas tree on the school’s parade float. Carrying the theme of a ’Storybook Christmas,’ the float will process through the downtown tomorrow.

AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER

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Lisa Macierowski lines the Children’s Service Center’s float with red and green tissue paper.

S. JOHN WILKIN/THE TIMES LEADER

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Smile at the children in pajamas huddled around a fatherlike figure as he reads a story.

Study the straight faces of the soldiers as they pass.

All of the above are part of a “Storybook Christmas,” the theme of King’s College’s float for this year’s Christmas parade in downtown Wilkes-Barre.

Monarch volunteers will be out in full force tomorrow afternoon, with the school cheerleaders disguised as Dalmatian dogs (just 20 of them, not 101), the Monarch Dance Team dressed as soldiers who bust some dance moves during procession breaks, and students sporting Cinderella, Peter Pan, Snow White and similar familiar costumes.

“We tried to come up with a night-before-Christmas theme,” said 21-year-old student Tara Shevock of Shavertown.

“It absolutely is the kickoff for the holiday season,” Lore Majikes, special-events coordinator for the city of Wilkes-Barre, said of parade day.

The parade itself will begin at 3:15 p.m., when more than 70 area businesses and community groups will begin their procession from South Main and South streets and to North Main and Union. At dusk, Mayor Thomas Leighton will light the city’s Christmas tree, which this year came from the Grant Street yard of Liz Lovecchio.

“My family and friends are thrilled,” said Lovecchio, an employee at the Boscov’s courtesy counter. She said her husband, Albert, planted a number of trees many years ago and, because he died in 2003, this is a nice way to remember him.

“It is very exciting,” she said.

While Lovecchio gets ready for parade day and the opportunity to see her tree lit in the center of Public Square, others, like the students and staff at King’s and the Children’s Service Center, are busy putting together visually appealing, fun floats to grab the attention of parade-watchers.

“Looking back, we decided it was a good way to participate in the community and make people aware of our agency,” Paul Van Maanen, compliance and safety officer at the center, said.

That was nine years ago, when the agency decorated a truck with posters. Now the staffers go all out.

“This year the theme is ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,’ and there will be a couple kids on the float decorating the tree to music,” Van Maanen said.

Majikes is grateful for all the support.

“It’s amazing because every year we encourage businesses (and community groups) to get involved and do floats,” she said. “We are so thankful for them.”

Majikes admits she usually gets teary-eyed as she sees Santa Claus coming to town at the end of the procession.

“If it does that to me, I can’t imagine what it does for the kids,” she said.

The burly guy, seen each year amid presents in Santa’s Workshop as he arrives on a float built by McCarthy Tire, is a special Santa.

“He has to be the best Santa I’ve ever seen in my life. He gets down onto the children’s level,” Majikes said, recalling last year when Santa, whose outfit is donated by Boscov’s, stopped, knelt down next to a mentally challenged man in his 30s and brought a smile to his face.

If you’re not around Wilkes-Barre tomorrow afternoon, Santa Claus, as well as an array of floats, trucks and marchers, is ready to get the city of Scranton into the holiday spirit as well.

The 17th annual Greater Scranton Jaycees Santa Parade will begin at 9 a.m. on Linden and Spruce Streets and end at the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center on Adams Avenue.

“They’re in awe,” event co-chair Mellody Swinick said of the children who watch the parade come down the street.

She said at least 50 businesses and community groups participate.

“It’s the second biggest parade in the city of Scranton,” Swinick said. (St. Patrick’s Day brings the biggest.) “This kicks off the holiday season all throughout the downtown.”

Apart from the parade, a “Breakfast with Santa” – $6 for children and $12 for adults – runs from 10:30 a.m. until noon at the Hilton, and a book signing by local author Peter Tafuri will take place at the Scranton Public Library.

Swinick, who used to participate in the parade as a twirler but has served as a planner the past few years, doesn’t mind admitting she’s most excited for the chance to ride in a white Corvette on parade day, a sort of reward for her hard work as one of the three co-chairs.

“That’s my motivation,” she said, chuckling.